The Lady
by Runa Ollivander
Summary: What if the Doctor wasn't the Pandorica's first prisoner? What if Pandora was a real woman, trapped inside the prison? Released into dying universe with no memory of her past, what would she do?
1. The Roman and the Pandorica

Rory sat alone in front of the Pandorica, it had been 13 days since the Doctor had left and he had nothing left to do. The debris and empty shells of aliens and romans were all cleared away and he had a lot of time on his hands now he no longer had to worry about eating or sleeping. He had developed a routine, as he remembered having in the Roman army, to keep track of the days. He was still getting used to all the new memories he had that had been planted there when he was brought back to life. He had first explored the underhenge, with its various tunnels and side chambers. He had even discovered stairs leading downwards, however Rory had not explored there yet, not wanting to get lost. He had also spent time above ground, clearing up what remained of the fake roman soldiers. He was always on the lookout for people approaching but had not seen anyone since the doctor left. They were probably scared what with the big alien space ships hovering above the area recently, if that had even happened now that the universe was dying. The closest he had come to seeing any form of life was the occasional animal that wondered close by. Rory wondered whether he should get a pet.

It was evening now, and he had lit all the lamps so as to not be left in the dark. He knew it was wasteful, especially since his hearing was more powerful than that of a normal human, he would hear anyone coming from over a mile off. However, Rory had always been afraid of the dark and so he lit the lamps. This way he was also able to continue to clean the cavern of the dust and dirt, it wasn't like he had much else to do. He would have to go find some more torches soon, perhaps if he found some people living around here, he could trade his healing skills for some. He sighed, a problem for another day. Rory preferred staying inside at night, it was unnerving to look up into the night sky and not see any stars. Everything here seemed _off_, and he suspected it was because of the cracks that were slowly erasing the universe. However, it could also be because Amy wasn't here, nothing ever felt right without her. He decided to cheer himself up by talking to Amy, something he was doing a lot with no one else around. He knew she couldn't hear him, trapped in the Pandorica, but it comforted him to think she was listening anyway. He just liked to tell her stories from when they were kids, what he was doing, his memories of Ledworth, how everything had been last time they were there.

He was in the middle of telling a story about Mels when he heard some sounds from above. It sounded like a person, by the sound of their breathing. He drew his sword and advanced, uncertain as to whether this person would be friendly or not. He closed the big doors behind him so as to hide the Pandorica. He walked quietly up the stairs, it was dusk now so he couldn't see the person clearly.

"Hi!" he called out, startling the person who had been walking around the outside of the stone circle. They were dressed in long dark clothes and their head was covered by another piece of material. The style of clothing was unusual, nothing like 21st century fashion or anything he remembered from his time as a Centurion. He walked towards them. "What brings you here?"

Now that he was closer, he could see that the person was a woman. She was shorter than him and was of average build, she seemed frightened, looking around to see if he was alone.

"I-I was hoping to find somewhere around here to rest for the night." She answered hesitantly and started to walk away.

"Wait! You can still stay here if you'd like," the woman hesitated, staring at him as if trying to tell if he was trustworthy.

"Where's your camp?" she asked finally.

"This way!" he grinned, leading her to the stairs. It felt good to talk to someone again after having been on his own for a while. "Are you a traveller?" he asked, trying to guess why this woman was here on her own.

"I don't know," she answered quietly, Rory looked at her questioningly. "I woke up a few days ago in the forest and have no idea how I got there, or where I was before that."

"Oh, wow, well memory loss can occur after a concussion. Do you have a headache at all?" he asked diving into nurse mode. She shook her head. He opened the doors leading to the Pandorica, ushering her inside.

"I'm Rory by the way" he said, glancing at her briefly, before coughing. "Er short for Roranicus, but everyone calls me Rory." Hoping she wouldn't realise how unusual the name was for a roman.

He wasn't sure she was listening to him though, as she seemed to only have eyes for the Pandorica. While she stared at it, he was able to get a better look at her in the light and realised she was in worse shape than he had previously thought. The clothing she was wearing appeared to have been a light grey originally, from the clean patches he could see on her sides. However, most of her was covered in dirt or mud and in other places the cloth was stained red with blood. There were also many cuts on her arms.

"What is it?" she asked turning to him, nodding towards the box.

"It's called the Pandorica, it was brought here by beings from another world." He looked at her unsure as to whether she would believe him, "I'm it's protector and right now she's the most important thing in the whole universe."

"It's unusual." She said eventually.

"You can say that again. May I have a look at your arm?" he asked changing the subject. She looked down at her arms and appeared surprised to see the scratches on them. She looked back at him.

"Are you a healer?" she asked in surprised tone.

"In a manner of speaking, yes." He led her to one of the side rooms where all the things the romans had left behind were. "Come sit down here, and I'll clean those wounds for you."

"Ok." she said in a quiet voice and raised her arms so that Rory could take a better look at them. He sat her down on the floor while he collected a few supplies and carefully treated and dressed her wound. It must have stung as he wiped away the mud and applied some alcohol, but she was quiet the whole time.

"You must be tired." He said after he had finished, she nodded. They were able to find some new clothes for her that fit amongst Rory's supplies. It was unnerving that these belongings remained while their owners had vanished into fin air. He led her to a side alcove where he had put all the blankets he could find. "You can make yourself comfortable here, I won't disturb you."

"Thank you, Rory." She replied giving him a small smile.

"Yes, well, no problem." He said awkwardly before paused, "Goodnight then, I'll be in the main hall if you need anything."

It was only when he had sat down next to Amy that he realised that he still didn't know her name. He resolved to ask her come morning, not wanting to disturb her now. Rory kept watch all night, feeling less lonely with the sound of someone breathing in the next room.

The sky was still dark when she appeared again. Rory lay against the Pandorica, his face hidden by the shadows now that the torches were out. He didn't move as she crept out, walking on her tip-toes and obviously trying to be quiet. She did not look like she wanted to be disturbed. She opened the doors and crept up the stairs silently but quickly, leaving them slightly ajar. Ordinarily Rory would have left her to it but began to get worried when he heard the sound of metal and remembered that he'd left some swords up there that he had hidden in the case of emergencies. He hurried upstairs as fast as he could without running, not wanting to alarm her.

He found her just outside the stone circle, looking westwards watching the sun as it rose. She was leaning back against one of the stones, a sword laid on her crossed legs. It was one of those beautiful mornings where the sky was awash with colour. The sun shone bright yellow while above it the sky mutated first into oranges then into reds, the clouds above them were painted in pink and purple while above the clouds still, the sky turned into a periwinkle blue. He went to stand by her to watch the beautiful sight.

"Hey," he murmured quietly, not wanting to startle her again. She quickly wiped her cheeks and Rory realised she had been crying. She looked up at him with a wobbly smile, sniffing.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" she asked, nodding towards the sunrise, Rory nodded but continued to look at her worriedly. "I just took this for protection, I hope that's ok?" she continued.

"Yeah, it is. Are you ok?" he asked focusing on her. She sighed as she continued to look out across the view.

"I…well, no, not really… I just don't know what I'm going to do." She said.

"Well, you could, I don't know, stay here." He said hesitantly, sitting down next to her.

"You'd let me?" she asked surprised.

"It doesn't have to be forever, but until you work out where else you'd like to go, yeah." She watched him for a moment before turning back to the sunset.

"I'd like that." She smiled.

It was very peaceful, Rory decided, the two of them sitting there watching the sun slowly travel across the sky. There were even some deer out in the early morning sun. They stayed there chatting until the morning sky dulled into a uniform blue colour. Rory heard her tummy rumble and she looked at him sheepishly.

"You wouldn't have any food, would you?" she asked,

"I think I should have something downstairs," he answered, as they stood up. It had taken him a few days to realise that he no longer had to eat food and so he had stopped. There was no use to it and the only thing left by the romans had been some wheat crackers that Rory was not too fond of. "By the way," he asked as he turned to her, " what should I call you?"

"Oh, Pandora", she said as she continued to make her way back to the underhenge. "You can call me Pandora."


	2. The Necklace

A week later and Rory found himself watching the sunset, lost in thought. It had been different since Pandora arrived, she was nice and was good at finding things to do. He had been getting lonely guarding Amy with no one else to talk to. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, it was weird that no one else had ventured near Stonehenge in so long. Before Pandora, the Doctor had been the last person he had spoken to.

_"Whole species have been deleted …. The Universe literally never happened." _

Did that include humans? He wasn't sure, and the Doctor wasn't around to ask.

"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Pandora, startling him as he turned to realise that she had also come above ground and that the sun was nearly gone.

"Well, I was thinking of going out tomorrow. See if I can't find a village or a town nearby." He explained

"Sounds nice, I'll come with you!" Pandora smiled happily skipping back inside. "Maybe we'll find someone who knows who I am!"

"Uh.." Rory had been about to ask her if she could stay behind to guard Amy. But she wanted to get home, wherever that was for her. He was starting to become worried about her memory loss although maybe she just needed time or to see a familiar face. So far she did not seem to have remembered anything about herself, although she had no problem naming things or knowing how they worked. There had been one strange incident however, when she had accidentally stumbled into the room where Rory had stored the remains of the aliens. He had found her furiously kicking the lifeless hull of a Dalek and had had to pull her away before she started to calm down. She couldn't explain to him why she had done it, just that she had suddenly felt furious at the sight of it. He couldn't help but wonder if she'd had any encounters with Daleks in the past and if that was the cause of her memory loss…

"Rory! Are you coming inside?" shouted Pandora and Rory quickly jumped to come back inside. It was almost dark now and although he was now stronger than most humans, his night vision had not been similarly improved.

They set of early the next morning feeling hopeful about meeting people who lived nearby. Pandora had asked they go in the direction that she remembered coming from that night almost a week ago, eastwards. Rory had agreed seeing as one direction was as good as any of the others as far as he knew. It only took them an hour before they were able to find a house, a small dwelling in the middle of some field with a few animals wondering about the yard. Rory had been unsure as to how to approach the people at first, but the decision was soon taken away from him.

"Roman! Roman! Mother there's a Roman here!" shouted a young boy who had been standing in the yard before disappearing inside the house. He soon reappeared standing next to a skinny woman who must have been his mother.

"Hello there!" called Rory as they approached the gate to the dwelling. They stopped when the woman failed to reply although she was holding her broom in a very defensive manner.

"May we come in?" asked Pandora, who also picked up on the fact that the woman seemed to be scared of them.

"Maybe," the woman finally answered, "What is it you want? It's not tax season yet is it? Because, I'll tell you now, I wasn't expecting you for another few months yet." She said worriedly.

"No, need to worry" Rory answered amused, some things never changed it seemed "We're not the taxmen. We just came around to see if you had seen any strange happenings about recently?"

"Or if you needed any medical attention?" added Pandora.

This seemed to decide the matter for the woman who nodded, her face breaking out into a smile and she let them in. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, she hadn't seen anything unusual about recently.

"Except for you two that is!" she'd exclaimed. It had turned out however that she had a daughter who was sick in bed with a fever and had been for several days. Rory hadn't been able to help much except recommend a new diet and to try a mixture of herbs he hoped would help. They left soon after, heading in the direction of where the lady had said the nearest village was. They had received a similar welcome and Rory had helped treat a few more patients in exchange for a few goods. There had been no news about strange things going on, although Rory had received a few complaints about various neighbours which he had felt compelled to resolve. There were no romans in this village thankfully, as Rory was unsure how he would explain himself to them when they finally did meet them. He was the lone survivor of a roman legion that may very well have never existed. By the afternoon they were preparing to head back with what few supplies they had managed to bargain for, when a young woman approached them.

"Hi, is it true you two were asking about any strange happenings hereabouts?" she asked hopefully, Rory put down the parcel he was carrying.

"Yes, we are! Have you seen anything?"

"Well, it was a good few weeks back and I was up late, I just couldn't seem to fall asleep. Anyway, I was looking up, watching the stars when this _thing_ fell from the sky. It landed over in that direction." She explained pointing in a north-westerly direction.

"What was it?" asked Rory curiously,

"I don't know just a big ball of flames, me da went out to see if he could find it but he didn't have any luck." She looked Rory over, "Maybe you will though, best of luck." She said before turning around and leaving.

"Interesting woman," observed Pandora as they watched her walk away,

"Oh yeah?" asked Rory as he picked up his things again, there would be no time for any further exploring today if they wanted to make it back to Amy before the sun set.

"She knows about stars." Explained Pandora knowingly as they started to make their way out of the village of Durrington.

It took them a few days before they headed off in the direction the young woman had suggested as Rory had been busy visiting his new patients. The young girl from the first house they had visited was now better to the great relief of her parents. They had insisted on repaying Rory with a chicken, who Rory had in turn given to Pandora. She had in turn been busy setting up a new herb and vegetable garden in a sheltered area nearby as their stocks of food were starting to run low and they would soon need to rely on the local villagers for food.

They left on foot carrying only some water and Rory's first aid bag which he took everywhere. It took them about two hours before they stumbled upon a giant hole in the middle of the forest. To Rory it looked like a bomb crater, with the amount of earth that had been blown back from whatever had landed here. The trees and vegetation surrounding the area had all been blown back by the force, although some greenery was starting grow on the sides of the hole and the bottom was filling up with water.

"Well, what should we do now?" asked Pandora, "It doesn't look like there's anything here."

Rory looked around the hole, "I'm not sure really, I'm just going to have a look around and see if I can find anything."

"Ok, well I'm going to see if I can find anything edible around here," declared Pandora before heading off back into the forest.

"Don't get lost!" called Rory before turning back around to face the hole.

He climbed into it and set about scouring the sides for any clues but found nothing. It was midday by the time Pandora returned with some apples and they took a break, sitting at the bottom of the hole.

"It's a shame the water's too high to get a look at whatever is at the bottom of the crater," said Rory standing at the edge of the water, it was a muddy brown colour and impossible to see in. He had thought about wading in, but there had been a lot of rain in the past few months and Rory had been unwilling to see how his plastic body fared in water. "Shall we head back?" he asked, no point in waiting around for longer than necessary. "Pandora?" He looked up at her and found that she was staring very intently into the water. "Pandora?" he asked again when she didn't respond.

"There's something in there," she said turning to him, "I can feel it. I'm going to go for a swim, no need to wait for me if you want to head back."

Rory started to protest but she had already taken off her outer clothes and had started wading into the pool. He resigned himself to waiting on the side and playing lifeguard until she was done, although he wasn't sure he would be much use seeing as he had no idea if he could go in the water. It was deeper than either of them expected and she had been unable to reach the bottom when she was less than a meter in.

"I'm heading under," she shouted at him once she had reached the middle of it, disappearing before he could protest. He wasn't too worried though, they had had a competition the other day to see who could hold their breath for the longest. Unsurprisingly, Rory had been the winner, stopping at ten minutes while Pandora had only lasted for 5 minutes, which was still impressive, for a human.

At the four-minute mark, Rory was starting to feel bored and was hoping Pandora would come back to the surface soon.

At five minutes, Rory started to pace, hoping to get a better view for when she reappeared.

At six minutes, Rory was starting to panic, wondering if she had hurt herself underwater.

At eight minutes, Rory was preparing to enter the water and get her himself, but the thought of Amy alone in the Pandorica held him back. Maybe she was about to come up?

At ten minutes, Rory had had enough waiting and dived into the murky water.

Although it was murky, there appeared to be a bright light coming from the bottom of the hole. He dived deeper, until he reached it. It appeared to be a pendant of some kind, a golden glowing object attached to a chain. He looked around the water and was losing hope of finding Pandora, grabbing the chain as he went. As he did the light went out, leaving only the light of the sun. He looked up and saw the shadow of a body floating above him. He swam upwards, grabbing a hold of the shadow, which turned out to be a body and pushed himself to the surface, pulling her with him. He gasped for breath as he reached the surface, despite not needing to breath and pulled the body up and saw that it was indeed Pandora and that she was still unconscious. He quickly dragged her to shore and checked her over, leaning her on her side as she started to splutter and throw up water. However, she didn't wake up, it was strange, she was breathing normally although her heart was beating really fast. He swore, there was nothing else he could do right now except wait until she woke up on her own. As Rory dried off and she remained unconscious he decided to carry her back to Stonehenge, not wanting to leave Amy alone for too long. Decision made, he picked her up, as well as the bag of food she had collected before making sure he had the strange necklace with him and walking homewards.


End file.
